


How to Live Even More when you're Dead

by Sparky_Young_Upstart



Category: iZombie (TV)
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Angst, But also, Cannibalism, Canon-Typical Violence, Case of the Week, Fluff, Gen, Humour, Smart teens always compete in the decathlon, Underage Drinking, Zombification, and some, post-Season 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-13
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-04-04 04:43:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 10,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4125870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sparky_Young_Upstart/pseuds/Sparky_Young_Upstart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's hard being a zombie. It's hard, but at least there are some that understand. Set post-season 1 finale, so expect spoilers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. You Crave Human Brains

**Author's Note:**

> This is something I really needed to write because I was SO EMOTIONALLY DISTRAUGHT over the finale. I really hope Evan does survive and become a zombie, and if he does I feel like things will go a little like this...

Evan stared at the corpse on the table. “I have to eat that?”

Ravi shook his head. “Not the whole thing. Just the brain.” He held up the tool with the tiny, razor-sharp saw sticking out of the end. “This is basically your new can opener.”

Evan felt like he was going to be sick. Actually, scratch that. He wished he felt sick. But when Ravi said the word brain, Evan’s mouth started to water. To him, a human brain sounded better than the biggest, juiciest steak. He was disgusting. He was a monster.

He was so, so hungry.

Liv was sitting beside him, her hand squeezed around his. “I know it sounds awful, but you get used to it.” She shook her head. “No, that’s a lie. You don’t. But this is better than some of the other ways.”

Evan looked at her. “Other ways?”

Liv nodded. “Well, if I wasn’t here then I would have had to get my brains from grave robbing last year, like Lowell did. Or I would have to kill people on the street like Blaine. Or I could have starved myself until I crossed the point of no return, and at that point you do want to eat the whole body.”

Evan shuddered. He didn’t hate Liv for what she did to him. He understood. He also understood why she almost didn’t save him after the explosion. His sister seemed so strong as she sat beside him and supported him through the whole…transition. She seemed like she had the whole zombie thing down pat. But every time she explained something to him, he could tell that it was wearing her down.

Ravi fired up the brainsaw and began to slice through the skull of the late Mr. Grady. “What does it taste like?” Evan asked. Liv wrinkled her nose. “That bad, huh?”

“It’s a paradox,” she answered. “It tastes kinda bland and metallic and you’ll need to drown it in hot sauce, but at the same time - when you eat it, it feels good, regardless of the taste.”

The sound of the saw ceased as the top of the cranium clanged into the bowl underneath the cadaver’s head, followed by a wet thump. Evan could smell the bloody, pulpy scent of the brain from wear he was sitting, and when Ravi picked the brain up and held it aloft the world went red.

He lunged for it, and Liv had to grab his shoulders to hold him back. Ravi jumped a bit with surprise. “Easy now! Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to be grabby?”

Evan groaned. “Ugh, I’m just so hungry. Argh!” He flailed his arms towards it. Liv rolled her eyes.

“Ravi? Could you put the fast in fast food please?”

“Right.” He grabbed a scalpel and chopped off a chunk of frontal lobe, plopped it onto a small plate and doused it with the hot sauce that seemed to inhabit every knook and cranny of the morgue these days. “Order up,” he said as he held the dish out.

Liv let Evan go, and he snatched the plate away from Ravi. He didn’t bother with a fork, just grabbing the wet tissue and plopping it in his mouth. He barely even chewed it. He craved every morsel, even sucking the brain juice off of his fingers. It was so fast that he barely noticed when the red in his eyes faded and the hungry beast inside of him calmed down. He took a deep breath.

“Fuck.”

Liv walked up to him. “How was it? Was it okay?”

Evan looked at the rest of the brain in the tray on the desk. “Um…can I ask for seconds?”

Liv and Ravi smirked, and Evan smiled to. When it came down to it, it actually wasn’t that bad. This time, at least.


	2. You Can't Take My Look

“ _Your_ look?” Evan had shouted. “It’s not your look! You didn’t invent it. If anything, I’m taking Billy Idol’s look.”

But that didn’t work. “What are people going to say when my little brother suddenly gets the same pale Targaryen makeover that I did?” Liv had said sternly. “Doesn’t that seem kinda weird? Kinda suspicious, even?”

She was right. Still, Evan would be lying if he wasn’t as bit disappointed. He wasn’t a super vain person, he personally thought he could rock the white hair. Just this morning when he came out of the shower he could see the streaks coming in. He figured he would make a great Billy Idol. But then he started noticing the other things. His eyes looked darker, more baggy. His skin was way paler than he expected it to be - Liv wasn’t joking when she talked about all the spray tan she had to buy. She was right. It was too much and too suspicious.

He threw a toque over it and sped out the door. His mom didn’t like him running out so quickly, but he promised that he’d be back by dinner and not to worry. By the time he got to Liv and Peyton’s apartment, the latter had already set up shop.

Peyton was examining two boxes. “Evan, would you say you’re a dark chocolate brown or a sweet cola brown?” Evan gave her a blank look. She held the two boxes against his head. “Sweet cola.”

And a few minutes later she was massaging the dye into his scalp. It was something he’d had dreams about when he was still a kid, but he really wasn’t interested these days. He was just glad that he had friends in this other than Liv and Ravi. “You’re really cool with this?” he asked Peyton.

She shrugged. “It’s not big deal. I used to colour the hair for all the girls in my sorority back in college. They said that if being a lawyer didn’t work for me then I should look into hairdressing.”

Evan chuckled. “I was actually talking about the zombie thing.”

“Well, I’ve seen Liv kill a man in cold blood with a knife that was already stabbed through her hand, so if I can handle that I can handle anything.” Evan felt her fingers stop and stand still. “She’s still Liv. I keep telling myself that. She went a year and was never a danger to me, and if she really was then I’d already be dead. She’s a zombie and it’s terrifying, but it could totally be worse.” Then she pulled her hands away. Evan looked up and saw her covering her mouth. “Oh shit, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. You’re not scary Evan, it’s just -”

“It’s fine,” Evan replied. “I am. And I’m scared too. But you’re right. Liv lasted a year without any big hiccups, and that means I can too.”

“And beyond.”

“And beyond.”

Liv walked through the door carrying a cooler bag. “I brought food for the month. How are you guys doing?”

“Peyton’s elbow deep in sweet cola and I haven’t had a craving since breakfast, so all in all it’s pretty great.”

Liv smiled. “That’s good to hear. Still, when you do I’ve got some brain-tacos in the freezer that you can nuke in the microwave in a pinch.” Evan gave a thumbs up.

Peyton frowned. “Hey Liv, how come you never dyed your hair after the accident? Try to keep everything seeming normal?”

Liv shrugged. “I never really thought of it. I was in a rut, figured that trying to pretend would be a waste of time. And then I got out of said rut, and decided that I totally rocked this colour.”

Evan smiled. “See? Told you. Hey, maybe if this grows out by Halloween we can go as Targaryens after all.”

Peytons mirked. “What, no White Walkers?”

Liv punched her in the arm with a smirk. “No Peyton, Halloween is when you go as something you’re not. _Remember_?”


	3. You Need to Distance Yourself

“I just think this is all too sudden,” his mom said when he told her. She stood up from the table and walked away, taking a few steps and then turning back around. “You’re only seventeen, Evan.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I noticed. But I think this is a good thing, mom.” He absently ran a hand through his freshly dyed hair. “I’ll be moving out some day anyway, and I need to be able to know what it’s like to live on my own.” He shrugged. “Like, what if I go to college in another state and have no idea how to cook for myself? Or do my own laundry?” He didn’t point out that he likely wouldn’t be able to leave the city, considering how difficult it would be to set up a brain trust elsewhere. Or the fact that he didn’t exactly need to cook that well considering he only craved two ingredients.

His mom was shaking her head again. “I understand that, but those are all things that you can learn while you’re living at home. And you don’t graduate for another year, so you have plenty of time!”

Evan groaned under his breath. “I just think I need some space, mom.” _So that you don’t notice how I’ve been sneaking the brains of murder victims into my room to eat after dinner, and so that if I do get hungry then I don’t try to rip your skull open._

It wasn’t enough. His mom was rubbing her temples now, a sure sign that she was ready to end the discussion her way and no way else. “Evan, please, this isn’t a space thing. You’d be moving into a two-bedroom apartment already occupied by two women! One of whom I know you’ve had a crush on since you were little.”

He rolled his eyes. “Oh my God mom, that was from when I was, like, five! Besides, Peyton is with Ravi now and she already spends half of her time at his place anyway!” He threw his hands up. “Aha! See? Two birds, one stone.”

She was staring at him. He hated when she did that. It was the same look she gave Liv when she broke off the engagement with Major and overhauled her appearance (not like the latter was a choice, mind you). She was trying to figure out in her head where she had gone wrong, and why all the parenting books that she had read hadn’t prepared her for this, and whether leaving Evan’s father was worth it after all these years. It was a self-destructive death spiral that would have even worse effects than if Evan simply decided to stay home. He had to put a stop to all of it.

He walked up to her and hugged her. “Mom, I love you. You know I do. But you treat me like your son.” He looked right into her eyes. “And that is great and I wouldn’t have it any other way, but sometimes it can get really stifling in this house with just you around. Me and Liv…we’re on the same wavelength.” _The zombie wavelength._

His mom laughed. “Oh, don’t I know it. You two were always together as kids, even when she went into high school and you were still a little boy.” She bit her lip in thought. “Is this about the explosion?”

Evan shook his head. “No!” But then a thought came to him. “Um. Yeah.” Yeah. This could work. “Maybe. It’s weird. But Liv’s dealing with her PTSD, and I’ve got some of it too after all that…it’s complicated. But we kind of work better together these days.”

His mom nodded. “Right. Okay, um, well. I don’t want to say anything for sure, but I suppose if your sister is on board then it can’t be that bad of an idea. I mean, you’ll still be close.” She smiled. “Promise you’ll come over for dinner every once in a while?”

 _A dinner I can never enjoy?_ “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”


	4. You Do What You Can to Make it Mean Something

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So originally this was going to be a collection of small chapters detailing the aspects of zombism that Evan experiences, but as I was planning it out I realized that it'd work better if I threw some plot in. So while we're still gonna see snapshots rather than the complete arc from A to B, this part of the story is going to be a bit tighter than the last three.
> 
> Time-wise, let's say that this starts a few months after Evan gets blown up. Thanks to LordYellowtail for inspiring the Zombie Batman and Robin line.

Evan stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the body on the table. “Oh my God. Carley?”

Ravi looked up from where he was examining the body, then back down, and it clicked. “Oh. Oh shite.” He quickly covered the corpse with a sheet. “I didn’t even think of that. Did you know her?”

Evan walked the rest of the way into the morgue and pulled the sheet off the cadaver’s face again. The girl underneath was his age. Black hair, narrow face, pretty except for the cuts and bruises covering it. And the fact that her skull had been sawed open in order to remove her brain. They hadn’t been friends, but he still recognized her. “Carley McNab. She was in my English class.” She had been missing for the past week. Nobody knew why she had disappeared - she was such a stand-up student, she never missed class. Everyone thought that she would be valedictorian when she graduated. Evan had spoken to Carley a few times, usually when they were assigned together in discussion groups. She offered to help him with his report one time, and he thanked her but turned the offer down.

He’d been so lost in his own thoughts that Evan didn’t realize Ravi was talking. “Hello? Evan, are you okay?”

Evan jumped with a start. “Huh? Oh, yeah. I’m okay.” He took a step back. “It’s just freaky, you know? I never expected to see somebody I recognized on that table.”

“That’s what you always worry about in this sign of work.” The two looked up to see Liv coming down the stairs, tossing her lab coat on as she did. “No heads up, no warning. They drop off a corpse and you open up the bag, and you see your best friend from college, or the reporter your ex used to work with. Or…” She trailed off, took a deep breath, and plastered on a fake smile. “But you have to keep going, because the least you can do is give them justice.”

Ravi nodded. “Exactly. And since we’ve got our resident undead fake-psychic working here now, it’s significantly easier to do that.”

Liv’s smile took on an are of authenticity, and she wrapped an arm around Evan’s shoulders. “Don’t worry, Evan. We’ll find out who did this to your friend.”

Ravi motioned to the fridge back there. “And we’ve got plenty of skateboarder from last week that you can eat, so no need to worry about getting wrapped up in this case.”

“What?” Evan shook his head. “No way. I wanna help you guys with this one.”

Liv frowned. “Evan, come on. I appreciate your desire for justice, but this is police work.”

Evan raised an eyebrow. “Right, and when did you graduate from the police academy?”   
Liv scoffered. “Ok, let me rephrase that. This is grownup work. You are not ready to be messing around in murder investigations.”

Evan turned to Ravi. “She was murdered?”

Ravi grimaced for a few moments as Liv glared at him, not sure how much info he wanted to divulge. “She was stabbed and thrown down a staircase and found wrapped in a carpet in a shallow grave, so if it walks like a duck…”

“Gimme her brains,” Evan demanded.

“No!” Liv snapped back. “Get your own brains.”

He turned back to Ravi. “They in the fridge?”

“Yes.”

“Ravi!” Liv shouted. “Don’t encourage him!”

“It’s actually not a bad idea,” Ravi countered, tapping his finger against his chin thoughtfully. “I mean, you’re not going to experience all the stimulus that Carley did, whereas Evan will be right in the thick of it. He doesn’t have to investigate, just message you whenever he has a vision.”

Liv glared at him, then at her brother. Evan held his hands together to beg.

“Please let me be zombie Robin to your zombie Batman.”

Liv sighed and stomped off to the fridge, returning with a two forks and tupperware container that had “High School Girl” and a the date written on it in black sharpie. Inside was a macaroni and brain mixture with sriracha ketchup. “This is not a regular thing, okay? One. Time. Deal.”

“Got it,” Evan replied as he grabbed a fork and skewered a piece of cannibal pasta.


	5. You Don't Just See It, You Feel It

Before she started investigating the murders, Liv usually only got one or two visions per brain - not even that, sometimes. So far, that had held true for Evan. He had gotten a few glimpses here and there of the people who came through the morgue, but nothing too intense.

The first time he had a vision was when he was grocery shopping. He slipped on a wet floor and accidentally dropped the milk jug, spilling it everywhere. With a sudden rush he felt himself whisked into another body, looking out across a supermarket floor and scolding a pair of kids for doing something similar on purpose. Then with another blur it was gone, and he was back in the supermarket standing in a puddle of milk and being stared at by several concerned shoppers.

The rest of the visions were just as innocuous - a business meeting here, a sports game there. Evan had a sneaking suspicion that Liv was going out of her way to make sure that he didn’t wind up with any brains that ended in traumatic deaths. Well, up until now that is.

He was on high alert when he went in to school the next day, on the lookout for anything that might tip him off to how Carley had been killed. Before the bell rang he walked to the hall where her locker was. It was pretty easy to find, since her friends had set her up a small memorial. News of her death had spread pretty quickly once the police statement was released. The locker was pasted with flowers and notes and pictures of her and other students. You couldn’t walk through the hallway without feeling the melancholy that permeated the air. There was hardly a dry eye in sight. But even in death, people seemed to make things about themselves.

For example, two students were engaged in a heated argument a few feet from the memorial. A guy and a girl, neither of whom Evan could remember the name of but both of whom could be seen in the pictures on Carley’s locker. Evan stopped a few feet away to listen to what they were saying.

“How can you even think of the Decathlon at a time like this?” That was the guy.

“Well it starts in two weeks, so we need a new team captain immediately. It’s what she would have wanted!” That was the girl.

“Don’t even get started on that. You didn’t know her half as well as I did!”

Evan felt the rush of vertigo come over him again, and suddenly he was staring at the girl in another girl’s room. He felt his body move, even though he knew it wasn’t his, and a familiar voice come out of his mouth.

“Darla, I can’t just give you the captain’s position. It’s not fair!”

Darla was fuming. “What’s not fair is that you’ve been missing the past week’s meetings and haven’t said why. But it’s always all about Carley, isn’t it?” Carla stormed towards the door. Evan felt a lump build in Carley’s throat, but no words could come out. The door to the room slammed behind Darla as she left, and Carley let out an ugly sob as soon as her friend was out of sight.

Evan slumped into a nearby locker as the vision ended. It wasn’t like the others. It was so…intense. So fresh. And none of the visions he had before had had emotions so powerful attached to them. He had never really _felt_ felt them before now. But just then he could tell exactly the pain that Carley had felt when Darla walked out on her.

He whipped out his phone and quickly typed a message to Liv. He told her the vision, and the two that he’d seen arguing. Somehow he knew both of their names - Darla Chen and Mark Fallon. He figured it was something that had rubbed off on him from the brain.

Evan didn’t have any classes with Darla, but he and Mark had math together in the period before lunch. When he saw an open seat, Evan jumped (literally) at the chance and quickly zipped over to sit by Mark. The other boy looked up at him with a start.

“Um…hey?”

“Hey!” Evan replied as he sat down. “I know we don’t talk much but you look like a smart guy so I figured I should sit by you.” He grinned. “I’m Evan, by the way.”

Mark almost grinned. “I’m Mark.”

The teacher explained to them briefly the new variation of the problems they were going over, then handed out a set of problems for the class to work on. After about three minutes of silence, hushed conversations started up across the classroom. “You were Carley’s friend, right?” Evan asked as he went through the problems.

Mark didn’t move his eyes from his paper. “Yeah. Yeah, I was.”

Evan nodded. “That’s really terrible what happened to her.”

“It is. She was a…pretty cool girl.” Mark glanced up with a stressed expression. “Did you know her?”

“A little,” Evan replied. “We had English together.” He went through a few more questions in silence, then made his move. “I guess you guys on the Decathlon are gonna need a new captain then.”

Mark sighed. “Yeah, don’t remind me.” He set his pencil down. “Darla keeps trying to convince us that she should be captain, but like - let the ground get cold first, right?” Mark paused, then bit his lip and slumped back in his chair. “I just…Carley’s dead. She’s fucking dead. I can barely even believe it.”

Evan put his hand out and gripped Mark’s shoulder. “Hey, sorry for bringing it up man. I’m sure it’s really hard.” Mark took a few breaths, then nodded.

“Okay. Thanks, though. It’s nice to talk to someone about it.” He glanced over to Evan’s paper. “Hey, you write a lot like Carley.”

Evan looked back at the problems. He was writing differently. A lot neater than usual. And while he was no slouch when it came to schoolwork, he was shocked at the fact that in that conversation he had _finished_ the entire worksheet.

“Yeah. I, uh, guess her style rubbed off on me in English.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I removed one of the potential chapters because I didn't think it fit with the rest of the narrative, although maybe I'll write it later as a sort-of sequel to this. I'm hoping I don't introduce the suspects of the week in these next few chapters too quickly. Maybe I'll even be able to drop a few red herrings here and there in this span of time.
> 
> Next chapter will have Clive and Major. Yay!


	6. You Care For What They Did

In the following days, Evan and Liv shared their visions with each other in the hopes of making progress on the case. Though Carley was stressed about the upcoming Decathlon, the interrogations of her team turned up nothing useful.

“They all had alibis?” Evan asked over dinner.

“Every single one,” replied Liv. She shook her head. “I know how you feel, we both saw the same thing, but it looks like they weren’t involved." Then she smiled. “At least we know now that she didn't end up letting her friends down like she was afraid she was.”

Evan nodded happily. “Yeah. And I’m sure that we’ll get something helpful soon.”

“We just have to keep our eyes and ears peeled.”

“Exactly. There's no point in losing hope over the situation.”

Peyton stared at the two of them. “This newfound optimism is bad enough, but the fact that the two of you have the same brand is just creepy.”

Liv looked at her friend’s plate, ignoring the previous comment. “Are you feeling okay Peyton? You haven’t touched your goulash.”

Peyton poked at it with a fork. “Oh yeah, no, I had a bit. I was just…uh…”

“Peyton, there aren’t any brains in your goulash," Evan said with a smirk. "We don't cross-contaminate.

Peyton gave Evan a look, but nevertheless started eating. Evan finished off his own plate, then stood up. “Alright, I better get started on my homework.”

Liv was up right after him. “And I have some work emails I need to go through.”

Peyton sighed. “Wow, totally optimistic and eager to work. Maybe you should cross-contaminate.”

The optimism and work ethic were things Evan and Liv had gotten from the brains. It was Evan’s first time experiencing something deeper than just the deceased’s memories. Liv said that she hadn’t noticed it until she started digging deeper, and Ravi theorized that the more they associated themselves with their meals then the more their skills and personalities would surface. For Evan, that meant that he was suddenly quite proficient at math and had a deep need to help the people around him.

One such person was Jennifer Waltz.

He had first seen her standing in front of the memorial to Carley at school. It was during class, but Evan had gotten the hall pass to go to the bathroom. He always tried to time it so that he could go past the memorial on his way there and back, hoping that somebody would show up. And one day, when walking back to class, she did. The girl he saw was looking at the memorial pensively, like she was unsure what to do now that she was there. Evan had seen some people talk to it, and others just sit there in silence. The looked like she wanted to say something, but whatever it was was stuck in her throat.

Evan approached her carefully. He made sure his footsteps were loud enough so that she could hear them and didn’t think he was sneaking up on her. Still, she started a little as she turned towards the noise. “Sorry,” he said softly. “I didn’t mean to spook you.”

She shook her head. “No, it’s fine. I should’ve figured it’d look weird for me just to just stand here.”

Evan smiled softly. “I don’t know, I see a lot of people just stare at it.” He sighed. “It really sucks, though. I didn’t know her that great, but she sounds like she was a great girl.”

The other girl nodded. “Yeah. I only knew her for a few weeks before…this. She was really nice to me in that time.” The girl tenderly raised a hand to her cheek, like she was checking something, then dropped it quickly and turned to Evan. “I’m Jennifer. Jennifer Waltz.”

Evan took it and shook it. “Evan Moore.”

He felt a strong connection with her. Not romantic, more like…a sibling thing. He wanted to protect her and make sure she was safe and not let anybody hurt her. He imagined it was close to what Liv felt for him. He wasn’t sure what set it off, though over the next few days he made the connection to the brain. He and Jennifer would bump into each other a few times during lunch period of between classes, and exchange words when they could. They became friends fairly quickly, and in that time Evan learned that Jennifer had come to see Carley as a big sister herself.

“Like, at first we were just hanging out. But then some stuff happened and she started looking out for me more.” They were sitting in the cafeteria. Evan normally ate alone, but Jennifer offered to stick with him until her boyfriend showed up.

“What kind of stuff?” Evan asked.

This made Jennifer turn her head away. “It’s…sorry, it’s kind of personal.”

Evan nodded in understanding. “Right. Sorry, I get it. Some stuff is hard to share. Hey, whatever it was it’s nice that you had somebody to talk to.”

Jennifer nodded. “Yeah. I guess it is.”

They both looked up when they heard a loud and bawdy cry. “Hey Jenny! Let’s go!”

“That’s my boyfriend,” Jennifer said as she stood up and grabbed her stuff. “See you around?”

Evan grinned. “Definitely.” He watched as she jogged off towards the voice, feeling the protective instinct surge up inside him once more.

When the lunch period ended, he walked passed Carley’s locker as usual. This time, he noticed something different. Somebody had stuffed something into the doorway of the locker, but not enough so that he couldn’t see it. Evan went over and pulled out the small sheaf of papers, which turned out to be a series of pamphlets. There were some on drug addiction, abusive relationships, and even one of coming out. When he flipped one over, he saw a familiar logo. Then -

Carley was sitting in the Helter Shelter, waiting impatiently for something. She stood up quickly when the handsome man who had been at the front desk reentered the room. “Sorry that took so long. Some of these we haven’t even taken out of the boxes yet.”

“That’s fine,” Carley replied. “I’ll just grab these and go.”

The handsome man frowned. “Are you sure you just want the pamphlets? We have people you can talk too as well.”

Carley shook her head. “No, it’s fine. Like I said, they’re for a friend.”

\- the vision came and went quickly, and Evan had to stop and take a breath. What he saw was the last thing he expected to see, and he needed to talk to Liv now. He whipped his phone out and dialled her cell. When she answered, her voice was hushed.

“Evan, I hope this is important. I’m out with Clive following a lead and we need to be very stealthy.”

“Whatever it is, I have a better one. A few days before she died, Carley went to the Helter Shelter.”

He could hear Liv’s surprise when she answered. “What? What was she doing there?”

“I don’t know, but the guy who helped her probably does.”

“Oh. Crap.”

“Sorry Liv. I know you don’t want to talk to Major, but I don’t think we have a choice.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha! So remember how I said this chapter would have Clive and Major, and that I took a chapter out because it felt extraneous? Well turns out I lied. Major will have a bigger part next chapter, and Clive will show up too. And I added the chapter back in because when I was writing this it just got WAY TOO BIG and I needed to split it up. But hey, now we're getting closer to the big climax, eh?


	7. Not Everyone Will Get It

It turned out they did have a choice, but it wasn’t one Evan was fond of. Liv had no desire to see Major after everything they’d gone through together, and she was doubly concerned that her optimist personality would take over and try to make things right. She was certain that going down such a road would only end in disaster. Evan, on the other hand, wasn’t concerned about his optimist side at all - he didn’t hate major, but he had enough contempt that he was ready to deal with whatever the man threw at him.

Clive wasn’t fond of the situation either, but for a different reason. “Your little brother?” he said in a voice dripping with exasperation. “Liv, I jump through hoops every day to bring you along on my cases. At least you’re tangentially related to the police department. Now I gotta have Doogie Howser tail me too?”

“Dude, I love Doogie Howser!” Evan said excitedly. He backed off when Clive glared at him. “Right, sorry.”

“He has the gift,” Liv mentioned.

“So you’ve mentioned. That’s the other thing; you never told me that your brother could _That’s So Raven_ too.”

Liv’s moved her mouth a few times before she figured out something to say. “It’s…new. A recent development.”

Evan nodded. “Yeah, traumatic experiences and all that. Y’know…” Evan mimed an explosion with his hands and made soft boom noises under his breath.

Clive frowned. “Look, maybe I can figure something out. The new chief is still getting settled in, so I might be able to sneak Evan past him.” Then he shook his head. “Damn, I wish my little sister could cover for me every time I had to interrogate an ex.”

“How many times have you had to interrogate exes?” Evan asked. He tried to make it sound innocent, but he just got another glare from Clive. “Alright, alright, I’ll keep my mouth shut. Nothing but professionalism from me.”

The trio pulled up to the shelter later that evening, Clive having determined that Liv had to be at least tangentially involved in the trip lest somebody start asking questions. But as far as paperwork was concerned, Clive didn’t even know Liv’s brother. Evan and Clive entered the lobby, setting off a bell and causing the woman running the front desk to look up from her magazine. She closed it when Clive flashed his badge.

“Is there a problem officer?” She looked to Evan. “Is that kid in trouble?”

“Ah, no,” Clive turned to look at Evan, then back. “No, he’s fine. Actually, we were hoping to speak with one of your volunteers. Major Lilywhite?”

The woman nodded. “He’s in the back. Let me grab him for you.”

Clive and Evan awkwardly stood in the lobby waiting. “How did Major get his job back anyway? I thought they kicked him out for starting fights.”

Evan shrugged. “The cases he was involved in were closed, and you guys proved that he was on the right track with the kids disappearing. After he was cleared by a psychiatrist there wasn’t anything stopping him from reapplying, and they accepted.” He sighed. “All the kids already like him too, so that probably helped.”

Major stepped out from the back, a dishtowel hanging over one of his shoulders. “Detective.” He wrinkled his brow at the sight of the teenager. “Evan? What are…what can I help you guys with?”

“We’re investigating the murder of Carley McNab. We have a witness placing her here a few days before her disappearance, saying that she was talking to you?”

Major bit his lip. “By witness, you mean…” he trailed off, but he was looking dead at Evan. The boy shrugged again.

“Yes, yes, it’s exactly what you think it is. That’s why we’re here.” He pulled the pamphlets from Carley’s locker out of his pocket and showed them to Major. “I saw you give these to her, and I saw her leave really quickly.”

Clive nodded. “And we were hoping that you could shed some additional light on that.”

Major sighed. “Well, she never did give her name. Like you said, she came in a week or two ago and was looking for resources on dealing with issues.”

“What kind of resources?” Evan asked.

“What kind of issues?” Clive asked at the same time.

“Um…the pamphlets right there.” He pointed to those in Evan’s hand. “She said she was in a rush, and I thought she looked really frantic. Like she was worried about being late for something. Anyway, she wasn’t specific about what she needed them for so I got her a variety. But it was obvious why she was really here.”

Clive widened his eyes a bit, like he usually did when somebody was about to give him a lead. “Oh really? How’d you figure that?”

“Well for one, she said they were for a friend.” Major shook his head. “A lot of these kids, even when they need help they don’t like to admit that they’re in trouble. They’re always just looking for a friend, but it’s clear that she was looking for herself. Plus when I came in, I saw her staring at that poster right there.”

The other two turned around and looked at the wall. It was covered in posters proclaiming the dangers of eating disorders, self-harm, and a variety of other issues that teenagers were at risk of dealing with. The one Major was pointing at showed a beaten-up boy and girl standing beside each other, with a caption reading “ABUSE IS NEVER AN ACCIDENT”. Below that was a series of numbers that one could call in the event that they were being abused.

“Far as I could tell, Carley was stuck in an abusive relationship and didn’t want anybody to know. She tried to get help, but in the end it might have been too late for her.”

“Huh. Well, that will certainly help us find some suspects.” Clive tapped on Evan’s shoulder. “Come on Mr. Moore, we’ve got what we need from here.”

“Actually, if you don’t mind, I’d like to speak with Evan for a bit?” Major asked. Evan gulped, but Clive just nodded.

“I’ll meet you back at the car.”

He walked out the door, and Evan turned to face Major. He felt awkward as hell, but Major seemed to be feeling the same way. “So, Evan, how are…things?”

Evan shrugged. “They’re as good as they can be I guess. Liv’s helping me adjust, and I’ve been…eating well.”

Major frowned. “It’s not right.” He shook his head. “Look…I get that your sister means well, but she’s got to understand that she can’t go around turning everyone into zombies.”

Evan was taken aback by this. “Um, she didn’t really have much of a choice dude. I’m sure it wasn’t easy for her either.”

“But you’re young! You don’t deserve this.”

Evan crossed his arms. “What, but she does because she’s a grown woman?”

Major held his hand to his head. “No, but…she should have found another way than infecting you with this.”

“I was dying!” Evan shouted. He looked around worried that somebody else was within earshot. “So were you, you know. Did you ever think about that?”

Major paused, speechless. He walked backwards and sat down in a chair. “No. No, I didn’t. It’s…what me and your sister have been going through is really complicated. Yeah, I made some bad decisions, but so did she. She was literally letting me go insane because she didn’t want to let me know what was happening to my kids. And yeah, I was dying, but at that moment I had made piece with everything.” He rubbed his head in his hands, trying to compose himself. “And I still don’t think it’s fair that she kept you in the dark, or that she’s still keeping your mom in the dark. All that these secrets are going to do is hurt people.”

Evan took a deep breath. “I’d rather have secrets to keep than be dead. Dead-er. Whatever.”

“I know, I know. I guess you’re adjusting better than I was. She shouldn’t have you doing her work for her, though, getting roped into these murders.”

“I’m not doing her dirty work!” Evan snapped. Major was surprised by the venom in his voice. “Major…a girl is dead. All I can think about right now is how great a person she was because we’re currently sharing a brain, and about how now she’s dead. Yeah, it sucks, but me and Liv are doing the best we can to bring her justice. We’re doing the best we can with the hand we were dealt.”

And he walked out the door, not even bothering to let Major reply. His optimist side knew that Major didn’t mean any harm, but right now he just wanted to be mad at him. He was a zombie, and he was trying to make that mean something. Like the way Liv had made it mean something for her.

Speaking of, Liv and Clive were standing at the car arguing. “There was no evidence on the body!” she was saying in a hushed voice.

“You and Ravi said there was a struggle, though.”

“But that’s different from abuse wounds. There are old wounds healed over and they’re more spread out and show up differently.” She turned and saw Evan. “Oh, hey. How did it go?”

Evan smiled, trying to play it off cool. “Uh, let’s just say that I’m starting to get why you two split. What are you guys talking about?”

“Your sister says that there’s no evidence that Carley was being abused, I say that Major’s theory makes sense and we should look into her parents and ex-boyfriends.”

Evan pursed his lips. “Maybe it just started up? Carley’s a smart girl, if she was stuck in an abusive relationship she’d try to get out as soon as she could.”

Liv put her hand on her chin. “That actually does make sense. Alright, if that’s the case then we need to find out if there were any current relationships going on.”

Evan nodded. “Okay. I can talk to Jennifer tomorrow at lunch, see if she says anything.”

Clive grimaced. “Oh no, you’ve got him investigating at the school too?”

Liv scoffed. “What? It’s not like I can go in there and start asking them myself. I’m not a teenager, he is.”

“And I’m totally cool at it, too. Nobody thinks I’m doing anything suspicious.”

Clive shook his head at the two of them. “You two are going to end up in so much trouble with your sleuthing. Please try not to drag me down with you.”

* * *

 

“I don’t think she was dating anyone when we became friends,” Jennifer said the next day. “And she definitely would have told me if she had started seeing anybody during that time.” She took a bite of the chocolate bar she was holding. “Why?”

“Oh, no reason,” Evan said in a totally-but-not-at-all cool manner. He was way smoother at this in his head than he was in real life. Maybe it was because he wasn’t relying on Carley’s reflexive connection to Jennifer anymore, and that was why it didn’t feel natural anymore. But he had to keep pressing. “What about her appearance. Like, did she look like she was hurt at all?”

Jennifer gave him a look of intense confusion. “What? No! What?” She brushed her hair out of her face as she tried to calm herself down. “What are you even doing? Isn’t it the cops’ job to figure out what was going on with her?”

“W-well, yes, but uh…” he gulped and frantically tried to think of something. “It’s just, you know…sometimes…I mean, all that’s been going on…ugh.” He held his head in his hands “Sorry. I was way out of line. I shouldn’t have even opened my mouth.”

Jennifer was silent for a few minutes, then slowly reached out and patted him on the back. “I kinda get it.” Evan looked up at her. “Everybody’s trying to figure out what happened to her. It doesn’t make sense. Besides,” she smiled. “I know that you’re friends with me because of more than just that, so I’m not worried.”

“Ey yo Jen!” came a loud shout from across the hall. Carley and Evan flinched and looked up to see Sid bounding towards them. His jacked up jock form slowed to a halt when he reached the bench they were sitting on. “Hey girl. Who’s this nerd?”

She smiled weakly. “This is Evan. He’s a friend.”

Evan gave a small wave. “Hey. Just a friend.”

Sid nodded. “Yeah, I figured. You’re out of her league.”

Jennifer giggled. “Oh Sid, stop it! You’re too nice sometimes.”

He chuckled back at her and sidled down beside her. “So hey, I’m having a party at my place tonight and I’m pretty sure you’re gonna be there. Am I right?”

Jennifer bit her lip. “Oh, hmm. I’ve got some chemistry homework I should get a jumpstart on -“

Sid scowled. “C’mon girl, it’s the weekend! You’ve got plenty of time to do that later.” He slunk in closer to her. “It’ll be fun.”

Jennifer sighed. “Alright. Sure! I can wait on my homework.”

Evan, feeling very third-wheel-y, stood up. “Well, you guys look like you could use a moment alone. I’ll see you Monday Jennifer.”

“Bye Evan!”

He walked away, not being able to shake the feeling that there was something seriously off about the two of them.


	8. Your World Will Turn Red

It was a feeling so intense that as soon as he got home from school he hopped on his computer and started investigating. He opened up three tabs of Facebook - one for Carley, one for Jennifer, and one for Sid. He was still looking when Liv and Peyton got home.

“Hey Evan!” his sister called. “We’re home! How was school?”

“Perturbing,” Evan commented, not lifting his eyes from his laptop. “Come over here.” He motioned for Liv to join him beside the screen.

“What are you looking at?”

He pointed to the screen. “Okay, so I’ve been trying to build a timeline for when Carley disappeared. I think I found something. See this post on Carley’s timeline?”

Liv followed where he was pointing. “‘Sweet party tonight at Sid’s house! Gonna whip it and Nae Nae all night.’”

Peyton joined Evan on his other side. “I hope that wasn’t all they were doing that night, otherwise parties have gone way downhill since our high school years.”

Liv smirked. “I know, right?”

“Okay but look.” He clicked through the photos from that night on Sid and Jennifer’s timelines, along with other people who were at the party. “I’ve been looking all over and I can’t find any trace that Carley was actually at that party. And I looked on Twitter and Instagram too - nothing.”

Liv frowned. “So she never actually made it to the party?”

“Hang on,” Peyton muttered. She grabbed the mouse from Evan and clicked back a bit, then jumped back to Carley’s timeline. “Okay, she posted a pic of the outfit she was wearing that night.” She clicked back. “And look here.” Liv and Evan squinted. It was dark, but they could see it clearly enough. The same pink top and mint skirt that Carley had posted in her timeline could be seen walking into a room at the party. She did make it there. But that meant -

“Stay away from her!” Carley shouted at Sid. The other boy snarled.

“She’s mine! I don’t care what you think about it, you don’t get a say in it.”

“I do when you’re dangerous for her to be with!” She shoved him against a wall.

“What the hell are you trying to start, bitch?” he growled.

“I’m not starting anything. I’m finishing it.” She ran at him, hoping to tackle him, but he ducked out of the way and she slammed into a wall. She turned around, but a fist flew through the air and smashed into her face, sending her hurtling backwards and down. The stairs cracked her ribs and bruised her skin, leaving her a mess when she reached the bottom. She flailed her arms around, trying to find something to defend herself with, but suddenly Sid was on top of her.

“Some girls are just too crazy,” he muttered, grabbing a pair of scissors off of a nearby table. “How else are you supposed to control them?” He slammed the blades into her abdomen.

\- Liv and Evan fell into each other, both of them hyperventilating. Evan was almost in tears. He’d never gone that far before. Peyton was looking at them in shock.

“Are you guys okay?” she asked warily.

“We just…” Evan gasped, but he couldn’t continue. He buried his face in his hands and just let the tears come out. Liv held him closely.

“We just saw Carley get murdered. We…we felt her die.”

Peyton gasped in shock. “Oh my God…”

Liv rubbed Evan’s back. “Evan. Are you okay? Can you handle going on?”

He looked up, taking deep breaths. His face felt hot and puffy. “I think so…” Then the penny dropped. “Wait. ‘Stay away from her’.” He looked to his sister. “Carley wasn’t being abused. It was Jennifer!” He stood up and started pacing. “That’s who Carley was getting the pamphlets for. She really was just getting them for a friend. And Jennifer stuffed them back in Carley’s locker because she didn’t think she needed them. Now that I think about it she _does_ wear a lot of makeup.”

Liv nodded. “So, Carley goes to the party at Sid’s place and confronts him, and he kills her.”

“Wait, wait,” Peyton held up her hand. “The photo at the party triggered you guys, right?” The two zombies nodded. “That means that she was killed at Sid’s house. That means that there’s probably still evidence there. I mean, you’d still need to figure out how to get a warrant…”

“There’s a party there tonight though!” Evan replied. “Everyone will be distracted, so I can sneak down there and check it out. It’d be easy for me to accidentally stumble onto a puddle of blood or something.” He smiled briefly, feeling so close to getting Carley justice. Then he faltered. “I can’t go.”

Peyton raised an eyebrow. “What? Why?”

Liv chuckled. “Oh man. Evan has never been to a high school party before.”

Peyton gasped. “What? No. Really?”

“I mean, I’ve been to some small hangouts before, but nothing like the big parties with the popular kids. Look at me, do I look like the kind of hotness that parties with the cool kids?”

Peyton frowned. “Um, ah, no, you look like Artie from _Glee_.” She stood up from the laptop. “Okay, you know what, we can still work with this.”

Evan crossed his arms. “How’s that?”

Liv walked over to her brother. “Believe it or not, me and Peyton were never the coolest girls in high school either. But when dealing with the popular kids, there’s one foolproof way of getting in.”

* * *

The door to Sid’s house opened, revealing Evan holding two cases of beer. “Bud Light?” he asked.

The jock who opened the door nodded. “Yeah, Bud Light!” He pulled Evan in and shut the door, snatching the cases from his hands and distributing them amongst the crowd. Evan smiled, looked out the window, and gave a thumbs up. Across the street in an unmarked car, Liv and Clive sat in watch.

“I could bust all of those kids for underage drinking right now,” Clive muttered. “And you for helping to supply them with the alcohol.”

“Then you’d be the buzzkill who lost out on catching a murderer,” Liv snarked in reply.

Back inside, Evan wove through the crowd, trying to find the doorway that he had seen Carley go through in the picture. He really hoped that it didn’t end in him getting stabbed.

Somebody bumped into him, and when he turned around he was face-to-face with Jennifer. “Evan! You came!” she shouted in his face in order to be heard over the music.

Evan smiled. “Yeah, I thought it sounded like fun!” He frowned. “Uh, but, you should probably go home or something.”

“What?”

“I just don’t think you should be here tonight. I have a bad feeling.”

She scowled. “No way! This party is awesome! And if you’ve got a bad feeling then why are you even here?”

“Ugh, just, be careful tonight. Don’t let Sid know I’m here. Actually, stay away from Sid.”

“What?”

“Trust me!”

Evan disappeared into the crowd, leaving Jennifer completely baffled as she watched him leave. He slunk against the wall and started moving along it until he found a door. He glanced around - it was the one in the photo alright. Carefully he cracked it open, slipping inside and closing it behind him.

On the other side was a small laundry room, along with a set of stairs going down into the basement. He pulled out his phone and dialled Liv’s number. “I’m in,” he said when she picked up. “She was killed in the basement. I’m gonna try and find something.”

“Be careful kid,” came Clive’s voice from the other end. “Look for something out of the ordinary, like a rug in a weird spot or a space where it looks like something’s missing.”

“Okay,” Evan replied. He descended the stairs, using his phone to light the way. “Nothing yet,” he said softly. When he reached the bottom he looked around. “Dammit, there should be something…”

“Evan, do video,” came his sister’s voice. He nodded and turned the phone call into Facetime, moving his phone around the area so that Liv could see too. “Stop!” he heard her say after a moment. “That little carpet, it wasn’t there in the vision I don’t think.”

Evan looked around to see what she was indicating. Beside a couch was a small rug that he didn’t recall seeing earlier. He grabbed the edge and pulled it aside, then looked at it through the camera. There was a dull red stain beneath it.

“That’s blood,” Clive declared.

Evan saw something glint in the darkness. He went down on all fours and reached under the couch, grabbing something that had been sticking out slightly. He showed it to the camera - a set of blood-stained scissors. “And here’s the murder weapon,” he said.

He heard a door slam open above him. He tossed the scissors back underneath the couch and shoved his phone in his pocket. “Evan?” he could hear Liv faintly call out. “Evan what’s happening?” He didn’t reply, because he was frozen in fear. Slowly, menacingly, Sid Mitchell descended the stairs.

“Hey Sid,” Evan said nervously. “I was just, uh, looking for the bathroom.”

“No you weren’t,” the jock snapped.

“Well how would you know? Are you psychic? Because my sister, she -”

“Shut up.”

“‘kay.”

Sid shook his head. “I don’t know what your deal is, Moore. I mean, you start hanging with my girl but you don’t put the moves on her. I’m thinking, whatever, he knows his place. But then I find out you’re sneaking into my party and telling Jen to stay away from me, and now you’re slinking around in the basement. Do you know something I don’t?”

Evan breathed slowly, trying to remain calm. “Actually, I think I know everything that you do.”

Another door slam, and another person was running down the stairs. “Sid?” Jennifer called out. She appeared beside him, grabbing a hold of his arm. “Sid, what’s going on?”

“You’re friend Evan was just leaving,” he said, eyes not moving from the other boy.

“No,” Evan responded. “Not until you tell her.”

“Tell me what?” Jennifer asked.

“Nothing babe,” Sid said.

“Carley knew what Sid was doing, Jennifer. How he was hurting you.”

Jennifer flinched, but she didn’t move. “He doesn’t hurt me, she didn’t get that -”

“But he does hurt you, Jennifer,” Evan pleaded. “Sid knew it. She knew it too, She tried to stop it, so Sid killed her.”

Jennifer pulled herself away from him. “Sid, is this true?”

Sid groaned. “She didn’t know her place, and I got mad. Just like how sometimes I get mad with you.”

“You don’t ‘get mad’, jackass. You abuse her.”

Sid ignored him, turning to his girlfriend. “Come on, it was just a little slip up. You said yourself that you were tired of her meddling.” He reached out to grab her hand, but she slapped it away.

“Don’t touch me!” she screamed. Sid lunged for her, and Evan ran in between them. His face collided with the fist Sid meant for Jennifer, and he went sprawling to the ground. Jennifer shrieked. Sid kicked Evan in the gut, hoping to keep him down.

It triggered something in Evan. Something from a deep, dark place within his soul. Liv called it Full-On-Zombie-Mode. He figured this must be it, because everything looked red and all he could think about now was ripping open Sid’s cranium and tearing out his frontal lobe.

Evan snarled like an animal and threw himself at Sid. The two fell to the ground, and began scrapping with one another. Sid wasn’t prepared for a zombie, though, and as Evan clawed at his face and snapped at his sides he began to panic. “What the hell man? What the hell!” He kicked Evan in the face until the smaller boy disconnected, and took the chance to run up the stairs. Evan sprinted after him on all fours.

Sid burst out of the basement and flew into the crowd, knocking several people over. Behind him, Evan crouched at the top of the stairs and growled. Sid looked to him and whimpered. “Oh god man, no, please, oh my god…”

Fortunately, nobody else saw the beast from below because it was at that moment that someone else threw open the front door and slammed the house lights on. “Seattle PD! Lemme see some ID!” Clive shouted. The party guests responded by shrieking and fleeing the scene. Sid ran with them, going out the back door, and Evan ran after him.

When Sid was a kid his parents always told him to be careful playing behind the house, since they were on the edge of a steep hill and didn’t want him to fall all the way down into the river below. But Sid was being chased by some red-eyed crazy rabies nerd who was trying to eat him, and didn’t have time to remember his parents’ lessons. He took one wrong step and was soon rolling down the hill, his pursuer tumbling after him.

Sid’s head collided with a rock at the bottom, knocking him out. Evan landed on a fallen tree and impaled his side and hand with branches, but didn’t notice or care. He could smell the fresh brains inside the unconscious boy next to him. He only had to walk a few feet before he could rip open that skull and feast on what was inside.

“Evan!” Liv called. He faltered. Something was pulling him out of his funk. “Evan, stop!” The red world began to fade, and his other faculties flooded back into his mind. He looked down and saw that he had clutched Sid’s head with his hands and was about to smash it into the rock. He jumped back and into his sister’s arms, where he was pulled into a hug.

“Oh my God…” he panted. “Oh my God Liv I almost ate him…”

“I know. I know Evan. It’s okay.”


	9. You're Already Dead

“This is so gross.”

“Yeah but it’s a cool kind of gross, right?”

“Totally.”

Evan sat on the table as Ravi sewed his insides back together. A tree branch directly into his side was quite a bit more dire than Liv’s bullet wound from her early days, but it was just as non-lethal. Liv stood to the side with an eye on the stairs to make sure nobody barged in on them putting her brother back together.

“Try not to fly off the handle like that any more,” she said. “We really don’t know how much damage a zombie body can take and I’d rather not have you end up as our Guinea Pig.”

“Noted,” Evan replied. It was such a disturbingly crazy sight, watching Ravi pull a thread and having his side get pulled back together like a doll. If he had still been human he probably would have fainted or thrown up. He figured his undead brain had built-in protection against gore. “Is Jennifer okay?”

“She’s fine,” his sister replied. “After she found out that Sid killed Carley she completely flipped on him. The way the ages work out, he’s being charged with abuse of a minor. And when we told him that, he spilled the beans on everything that happened the night Carley died.” She smiled. “He is facing a long time in prison.”

“And it’s all thanks to you,” Ravi declared as he stood up, his necromantic surgery complete. “Not bad for a first case, Zombie Robin.”

Liv frowned. “Hey, don’t encourage him. I said this was a one-time thing, and I stand by what I said.”

“Don’t worry, I get it,” Evan muttered as he pulled his shirt back on. “Tonight was fun but I could definitely use a break from police work.” He paused, the grinned. “On the other hand, if you ever have a case that involves teens again you should probably get me involved. You’re weird on high school brains.”

Ravi smirked. “I disagree, I think it’s hilarious.”

* * *

“Evan!” Jennifer cried out before she pulled him into a big bear hug. He stumbled in the hallway, almost dropping his books, but recovered and turned to look at her.

“Hey Jennifer. How’s it going?”

She sighed. “It’s okay. I never got a chance to thank you, though. For everything.” She smiled. “How did you figure it out?”

He tried to be nonchalant about it, throwing his arm behind his head and shrugging. “Like I said, my sister was involved with the case and I picked up on some stuff. Plus I guess hearing so much about how Carley cared about you rubbed off on me.”

“That’s really sweet, because I might be off dating for a while but I could totally use a friend,” replied Jennifer.

Evan smiled. “Am I glad to hear that.”

“Really?”   
“Yeah!” Evan nodded. “If going to that party full of intimidating people I don’t know taught me anything it’s that my social life is several lacking.” He paused. “Um, hey, do you like rock and roll?”

* * *

“I can’t believe you’re going on your first date!” Liv cooed as they pulled up to the venue. Evan rolled his eyes and took a sip of brain smoothie.

“It’s not a date, it’s a friend-date. It’s just us being pals.”

Liv smiled. “Yes, but it’s an important first step and I’m sure she has many friends that think you are soooo cuuuute!” She pinched his cheek like his mom used to, and he flinched away.

“Tonight we’re just chilling, okay? We’re gonna have fun and not get involved in any murder cases.” He downed the rest of the smoothie. “This isn’t gonna make me act like a dudebro or an old man or anything, is it?”

“They were the most normal brains Ravi could get ahold of,” Liv said. “Go have fun. Be yourself!”

Evan thanked her and got out of the car. When he was halfway across the street he heard his sister shouting. “Don’t eat anybody!” He chuckled and waved her off.

Jennifer met him at the door. “Hey,” she said. “You ready to go in?”

“Yeah,” he nodded, and the two descended the steps. When they got to the little music hall beneath the restaraunt, the band was just starting into their first number.

“ _A spirit climbs my spine to the brain / Following the rail-road tracks down again / I needed space, with soul, maybe we can die there_ …”

Jennifer leaned over to Evan. “Where did you find these guys?” she asked.

“I was just wandering around YouTube and found some of their tracks,” he replied. “They just kinda resonated with me emotionally.”

“ _Uh-huh, uh-uh, oh whoa, yeah,_ _stop nananaoo! I’m already dead! Yeah! Yeah Yeah!_ ”

Evan was. But he could live with that.

" _I am! Already dead!_ "


End file.
